Good story, Not enough for a whole film

best movie i've ever seen.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

After bugging my brother in law forever, he finally found a copy of this curious movie from 46yrs ago. It remains interesting today because no expense was spared with the cast - the fine performances keep this eerie tale alive. It's about a B-25 Mitchell Bomber being found in the Libyan Desert 17 years after the war. Even though the story looks like it may run out of steam - it keeps drawing you in, right up to the haunting resolution. It's always impressive when major real-life items are found years after their mysterious disappearance. In this case it's the finding of a WW11 plane (The Lady Be Good) that's finally found where it came down in the Libyan Desert so long ago. This actual discovery (in 1958) must have made a considerable impression on writer Guerdon Trueblood (grandson of General Billy Mitchell) as he seems to have based his 'Sole Survior' story on the locating of that ill-fated aircraft - lost, after its first (and only) combat mission - resulting in the tragic loss of all lives on board. The aircraft featured in 'Sole Survivor', while a different model, is also found about the same time after it went missing. Trueblood then tells the story of a military investigation into what could possibly have gone so terribly wrong, so long ago. The newly re-mastered DVD release is good looking indeed. Who knows, we just might find another of those unforgettably haunting classics of the small screen "A Cold Nights Death" from around the same time - remastered for us all to enjoy once more....now, might that also be possible?

Dear reader, if you are like me, you saw this a long time ago once, maybe twice and were hooked for life thereafter. But if you're not, if you have only ever sat on the edges of the discussion about this film or frankly have never heard of it till now ... you must watch this film. It does what so few stories have achieved before and since, it keeps you watching even if you've seen it before.Sole Survivor is not about the sole survivor of a plane crash come to identify the wreck as IMDb and so many others say, it's about the desire for closure, for a return home as expressed by the 5 crewmen stranded in the dessert for the last 17 years. They are the centre around all else revolves and they are the reason you will never forget this film once you've watched it.Fairly quickly if you're smart, and maybe not so fast if you're not paying attention, you figure out they're dead and have been waiting around for somebody, anybody to find their corpses and take them home, but when the man who ditched into sea leaving them to their fates shows up with investigators, they want to make sure the truth comes out.Several scenes that have stuck with me over the years centre around how the world had changed in 17 short years, and if your family are among those that still think the Dodgers are traitors for going west, you'll be hard pressed not to smile at one point. These men display the same curiosity and awe they held in life and that is why I suspect so many feel so strongly about Sole Survivor. The cast and the writer have contributed to making these guys come to life in what could have easily been a one set, three act play doomed to put people to sleep by "What do you miss most about home".Featured strongly outside of the dead airmen are the performances of the General and that of those of the investigators come to draw a line under the whole thing. Fans of Star Trek will look forward to the familiar acting style of William Shatner who only lapses into Shat speak maybe once or twice.I can't and won't ruin the ending for you as the ending is entirely up to your interpretation of what happens next, I on the balance of evidence think the last soul, the sole survivor if you like, goes home too. But even if he doesn't, if you have a heart, if you have ever come that close to something but had to wait just a bit longer and wondered if you could stand it.... you too will not soon forget this film.

I also recall watching this hauntingly beautiful Made-for-TV movie with excellent directing and a top notch cast which aired in 1970. In Fact, several years ago I requested TCM to find this movie and broadcast it - however to no avail. I remember watching this movie with my mother and older brother and I do recall what made this movie so memorable was the unexpected twist to the story toward the very end. When one of the "surviving" crew members spots a rescue helicopter he waves his arms then cheers as the helicopter approaches and says something like "So that's what they look like. Incredible! I heard rumors about these things coming out soon!" What made this so eerie was the fact that the rescue helicopter is a modern one and all the crew members that we have been watching for most of the entire movie that survived are wearing WWII uniforms. That's when all of us watching this incredible movie realized what had happened. (Hint: It's something that film director M. Night Shyamalan borrowed from and used in "The Sixth Sense"). Guys who are into war movies will enjoy watching this movie as well as the ladies. It sent chills up and down my spine - my mom, my brother as well as myself were overwhelmed with emotion and cried and cried until the very end... until they finally find... the sole survivor.

Well, unlike some comments, for some reason, I have always known the title... But like many, I've only seen it ONCE.Why this post -- SciFi channel running the Twilight Zone episode that just barely reminds one of the movie.Soul Survivor is one movie that, if not to be available on DVD, would be a viable movie for showing on the SciFi channel... Though I think I'd prefer DVD.Like others, this is a movie that STICKS with one... It is hard to forget -- even after 35 years. (ouch... to think that I was less than 15 at the time... and didn't even recognize Shatner!)